Alzheimer's disease rarer among Nigerians than among African Americans

Rates of Alzheimer's disease are lower in Africans living in Africa than in African Americans, a recent study has reported (JAMA 2001;285:739-47). The study is thought to be the first to find differences in the incidence of dementia related to Alzheimer's disease between an industrial and a non-industrialised country using identical researchers and methodologies.

The findings also suggested that environmental and cultural factors may have a role in the genesis of Alzheimer's disease. The longitudinal, prospective, population based study compared the incidence and prevalence of the disease in an elderly Nigerian population and an elderly African American population.

It was led by Dr Hugh Hendrie of the department of psychiatry and medicine at Indiana University …